Repentance and forgiveness render him powerless. The evil one cannot wreak havoc in the arena of repentance and forgiveness. Keep the focus there.īut it will take whites who are willing to listen, ask questions (not make statements), listen some more, ask more questions and learn of the wounding of our black brothers and sisters.Īnd then-assuming white Christians will own the ways in which we did not even know we have contributed to the systemic, cultural sins (and yes, we have), we repent, from our hearts.Īnd that allows our black brothers and sister to forgive. I am laser-focused on one thing: The church of Jesus Christ, operating in the power of the Holy Spirit, bringing racial healing. Detroit-in 1960-was one of the world's most remarkable cities. Principles that translate into policies-public policies. Yes, I know symbols matter-I get that-but not as much as substance. I cannot stand these constant "gotcha," nitpicky distractions-whether Democrat or Republican. That is like arguing about Melania's high heels when the issue is lives being saved in Houston. That is like arguing about whether President Obama was golfing too much when the real issue was his policies. I have no interest in whether the statues are up or down. Presence or absence of statues will not save us. The church-repenting and forgiving-can make the difference.Īnd it is ultimately not about whether we have statues torn down or left up. If the president or if the minority leader were to both say all the right things, that would not-in and of itself-heal the land. These-and all other elected officials-will not and cannot ultimately make the difference. It is not what House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says or fails to say. It is not what President Trump says or fails to say. I am more than willing to repeat my statements of repentance over and over if that is what it takes to see black brothers and sisters healed.Īnd we must avoid the distractions. Yes, I know you-as a white-might feel once is enough. And yes, the repentance might have to happen over and over. Those are the keys: repentance and forgiveness. and blacks need to forgive." He is correct. Repentance and Forgiveness Change EverythingĪs my black friend to whom I referred above said to me, very softly and tenderly-almost in a plea-after the hour and 45 minute "torrent of pain" poured out of him: "Whites need to repent. On the other side is "Ditch B," the "manipulation ditch." We as whites do not want to be vulnerable to and manipulated by that tiny percentage of blacks-the Al Sharptons of the world-who carry a perennial chip on their shoulder and have made a fundraising cottage industry by of creating racial division, animosity and hypervictimization.īetween those two ditches is a God-ordained, Christ-honoring, Holy-Spirit anointed highway for racial healing. They also need to stop saying, "I never owned any slaves," or "Slavery was 150 years ago, so blacks need to just 'get over it.'" The issue we are addressing is a systemic, deep inner pain that (1) we as whites do not grasp and (2) is present tense, not a "Civil War issue." On one side is "Ditch A," the "dismissive ditch." By that I mean, white Christians need to stop saying, "But some of my best friends are black," thinking that that phrase addresses the pain. For the sake of our black brothers and sisters. May I have permission to be blunt? Most of us (whites) just don't get it. In fact, I was getting a crash course on reality.Īlthough the moment was too sacred to record, I so wish I had a recording of it. I did not say one word for the entire one hour and 45 minutes. For one hour and 45 minutes he talked-with intensity-highly animated-sometimes looking at me-more often staring ahead at nothing as he spoke. Although he did not say it this way, he was saying, in effect, that my nicely arranged chapters were thoroughly "sanitized," loaded with statistics and information-all of it accurate-but that I failed to really understand the raw pain of the streets. Out of him came a "torrent of pain." I could see that he felt that I did not really understand his community, his pain, his struggle, his history. We had talked about my material for about an hour when suddenly, everything changed. He is a most impressive, tall college professor-a specialist on the civil rights movement-and he pastors a small inner-city church. ( REUTERS/Sait Serkan Gurbuz) We were supposed to simply go over some chapters on a book I am writing-part of which covers the topic of racism. Email Former NAACP President Cornell Brooks speaks.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |